Based on completion of a 90-day period since the last diagnosis of Exotic Newcastle disease (END) the twenty-two-month ongoing outbreak is now over with the last case having been diagnosed on February 1st.  The quarantine imposed on the affected counties is now lifted. 

Dr. Burke Healey, Chief Veterinarian for USDA-FSIS noted "APHIS and CDFA employees have worked tirelessly over the past two years towards this goal".  He added "while this is a big accomplishment, we need to continue the work to educate bird owners and arm them with the knowledge and tools to prevent this from happening again".  

The California Avian Health Education Network will concentrate on monitoring for Newcastle disease and will education owners of backyard poultry to protect their flocks.  It is hoped that vaccination will be an important component of the prevention program.

Consistently both APHIS and CDFA have failed to distinguish between fighting cocks that by their nature are moved regularly and bona fide backyard flocks maintained as hobby birds or to produce eggs for families.  The approach to both biosecurity and prevention is different between these categories and appropriate preventive measures should be applied.